


One Nice Thing

by sunsetstargazer



Series: Carlos!whump Series [2]
Category: 9-1-1: Lone Star (TV 2020)
Genre: Carlos just wanted to do something nice, Carlos!Whump, Judd needs to stop laughing, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 21:29:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29285316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetstargazer/pseuds/sunsetstargazer
Summary: Carlos just wanted to do something nice for TK and the others but luck just isn't in the air tonight.
Series: Carlos!whump Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2150646
Kudos: 30





	One Nice Thing

**Author's Note:**

> A/N So another Carlos story, I did say I had a few of them. Wrote this last night though so technically this still isn't me finishing old ones. Anyway please read and enjoy and leave a review if you want. I own nothing as usual.

“OK, mama I’ve got to go. Te amo.” Carlos said into the phone as he finally got off the phone with his mom. He’d had today off and since TK and the other members of his shift at the firehouse were all on a 24-hour shift he had decided to come and make them all dinner. He knew that things were unpredictable, but he had already planned on making a simple dish that could be reheated later if needed. He had intended to surprise them all when he arrived but they’d been out on a call that sounded like it would take a while and so he figured he would instead surprise them when they got back. He’d made the pasta sauce and was just about to put the pasta on to cook when him mom had called. She had gotten really into Netflix recently and always wanted to call him to ask if he’d seen the latest show that she was watching and whether or not he had she would insist on telling him everything that happened. He loved it really but lately she always seemed to call when he was already in the middle of something, but he never could find it in himself to say no to her and so he found himself wondering around the firehouse while she talked for at least 20 minutes straight.

He got off the phone and went back to chopping up fruit, he hadn’t really had a plan for dessert and so he’d just grabbed a couple dozen donuts and a bunch of different fruits and he was going to do a fruit salad. He knew the size off appetites that he was cooking for and so he had planned ahead for making sure that he would be able to cook all the food and so keeping it simple was really the only way to go.

“OK, just that in there and then… OWW!” Carlos bit his tongue to keep from turning the air around him blue with curses as he felt a sharp pain in his finger. He’d gotten a little too confident in cutting the latest piece and glanced up at the stove for a second, just long enough for him to put the knife down slightly too far over on the apple and the knife slipped. Looking down made it feel even worse as blood was pouring out of his middle finger on his left hand, a deep cut across the back of his finger just above the last joint where he’d been holding the apple still. The knife dropped from his other hand as he stepped back, and he turned walking quickly to the sink cupping his injured hand in the other to try and stop blood getting everywhere.

Making it to the sink he had to awkwardly use his wrist to turn the cold water on and instantly the clean metal of the sink was bright red as his blood washed away down the drain. With the blood covering the wound washed away he saw it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but he had definitely put a good slice into the back of his finger and the blood showed no signs of stopping, he might still avoid stitches if he’s lucky, but they seem like a definite possibility. He looked around not even sure where they kept the first aid kit, but it was at that moment that his phone in his pocket started buzzing. He grabbed the dish towel careful to keep his bleeding hand over the sink and quickly dried his other hand off before pulling the phone out. TK was calling him.

“Hey babe” Carlos answered the phone.

“Hey, just figured I’d call you since we are wrapping up at this call. I know there’s still a couple of hours before I’m off, but I’m really looking forward to seeing you later” TK said, and Carlos could hear the smile in his boyfriends voice even through the phone.

“Me too, so how did the call go?” Carlos tried to keep his voice neutral but also wanted to gauge how long he had left before they would be getting back.

“Pretty well actually, two kids trapped upstairs but Judd got one and Paul got the other and we managed to save most of the house. I just really want a shower now though, and some food. Dad reckons we’ll be done and, on our way back from here in a few minutes, and then only 10 minutes back to the station.” TK responded.

“Damn, umm OK yeah well that’s good glad everything went well” Carlos spoke before he’d thought it through and then had to backtrack to try and cover for it.

“Are you ok? You sound tense, what’s that sound?” TK said definitely curious now. Carlos quickly turned the faucet off to get rid of the sound and tried to cover.

“Yeah fine, just getting a drink. Anything special you want for dinner tonight? I can go shopping or we can order in?” Carlos asked as casually as he could.

“Umm no not really, I’m happy with just pizza if you want or something simple. I’ve got to go help Judd. I’ll text when we’re back at the station, love you Los.” TK said and hung up as soon as Carlos had the chance to say bye as well.

“OK, 10 minutes, 15 if I’m lucky. Better get on it” Carlos said to himself as he slid the phone back in his pocket. He reached over and switched the gas on under the pasta watching carefully to make sure it lit properly and then turned back to his hand. He could definitely get someone else to finish cutting the fruit once the others were back, but he needed to do something about his hand because there was already a small puddle building in the bottom of the sink and mixed with water made it look like even more. There was nothing else in the immediate vicinity and so he reached for the tea towel that he’d dried his hand on. It was just plain white, and he knew there was a load of identical ones in a cupboard on the other side of the room so he didn’t feel so bad about ruining it, but he would replace it if he needed to anyway.

He folded the towel into a long strip and then wound it as tightly as he could around his middle finger tucking the end in between his other fingers and making a loose fist to hold it in place. Far from ideal but it would do for now. The blood was hidden from view for now at least and running the faucet for a moment got rid of it in the sink too. Now with the pasta cooking he only had to go and grab the donuts in from his car which he’d parked down the side of the firehouse in the hopes it wouldn’t be spotted immediately. He walked out and popped the trunk of the car glancing around as he carefully lifted the boxes of donuts up having to balance them on his injured hand so that he could grip them with his right. Shutting the trunk was far more complicated as he ended up using his elbow from the side of the car and almost sitting on it before he finally pushed it down and locked the car. Turning to head inside he didn’t hear any approaching engines and so he hoped that he might still get back inside before they all got back. Luck definitely was not in the air tonight though… ( _sorry couldn’t help myself_ )

He got back inside and set the donuts down on the table and went to walk back into the kitchen as an odd smell caught his attention. He sniffed quickly and realised it smelt almost smoky in there, which wasn’t uncommon but with the team not fresh back from a fire it shouldn’t smell so strongly of it right now. His stomach sunk as he realised that the smell was stronger as he headed into the kitchen and turning the corner his suspicions were confirmed.

Flames grew up from the strands of spaghetti on the stove having caught from the flames coming up the sides of the pot where he’d turned it up to high. It was beginning to scorch the wall behind it and he let loose a string of curses that would have had his mother breaking out the soap. He ran forwards and switched off the stovetop making sure all the dials were off before he looked around desperately for a fire extinguisher. Oddly enough for a firehouse there was no obvious fire extinguisher that he could see from here and he really didn’t want to be responsible for Owen having to replace the kitchen that he only just got finished. He looked around and figured that at least he could pull it away from the wall slightly and then he’d chuck some water over it from the sink. He’d reached out before he’d even really thought about it and as his hand came into contact with the handle of the saucepan, he pulled back hissing. Unfortunately, in the process though the saucepan got knocked over and the spaghetti still on fire tipped out onto the floor leaving him to jump backwards. It was at this point that the smoke alarm finally started going off. And then the rug caught on fire as well.

“SHIT! Argh f**k how is there no fire extinguisher.” Carlos ran back to the sink and went to turn on the faucet only to discover that the end was an extendable hose. “Finally!” he exclaimed pulling the end out and flicking the faucet onto cold and aiming the water at the flames that were growing away from the pasta that had made it onto the floor, flicking it up at the still smouldering pasta that remained on the stove.

He hadn’t heard anyone come in and he couldn’t deny the panicked string of words and general noises of panic he was making may have drowned out their arrival a bit. So, he definitely jumped when a loud whooshing sound echoed through the room and someone was on the other side of the kitchen island. They quickly sprayed the fire extinguisher at the flames damping them down in seconds covering the edge of the stove as well before finally stopping and setting it down on the counter. Carlos instantly recognized the tall Texan as Judd, who was smirking at him looking more amused than anything. The smoke alarm switched off and Carlos froze not sure what to say.

“I really liked that rug” another voice came from behind him and he whirled around coming face to face with Owen.

“I can explain…” Carlos started but paused to cough slightly from the smoke still lingering in the room.

“First of, are you ok?” Owen said reaching out a hand setting it gently on his shoulder and stooping slightly to look him in the eye as he cleared his throat after coughing.

“Yeah, I’m fine, it was meant to be a surprise. I well…” Carlos began again.

“Well, it definitely was a surprise I’ll give you that” Judd barked a laugh making Carlos blush.

“You could say that. It was a new one to pull into our own house to find the alarm going off normally we have to go out to fight the fires, but this did make our response time quicker” Owen mused aloud glancing down again at the now soaked and charred rug.

“Hey donuts” Mateo’s voice came from behind Owen and everyone turned to look giving Carlos the opportunity to see that everyone was now stood in the dining area, even TK who had an unreadable expression on his face. Mateo had found the box of donuts on the table and was already reaching for one when Paul slapped his hand away lightly.

“I was going to surprise you guys with dinner, then my mom called, and I got side-tracked, so then when TK called to say you were on your way back, I tried to rush. Put the pasta onto cook and just went out to grab donuts from the car but I guess I forgot to put water in the pot with the pasta” Carlos admitted sheepishly. “Then I was just going to move it away from the wall to stop it spreading but it was too hot, and I knocked it over and yeah it’s kind of snowballed. Then I was trying to put it out still when you got back” he finished.

“Oh, is that what you were trying to do? Could have fooled me I thought you were just flapping about with the faucet when there was a fire extinguisher literally 2 feet behind you” Judd said still smiling.

“Well, I did look for one, but I didn’t know it was there and I couldn’t see it from over by the stove which is really a bad design to be honest” Carlos retorted starting to sense that no-one was angry at least.

“That so? Hmm I’ll be sure to come to you for fire safety tips in the future then” Owen said his teeth showing as he smiled and laughed.

“OK, I’m really sorry. I tried to do one nice thing and apparently it didn’t go well. I’ll replace the rug” Carlos said literally holding his hands up in defeat, but he’d forgotten to mention his hand and so instantly Owen had reached out for his injured one wrapped in the towel.

“Oh hush, you did no worse than the probie, he broke Caps coffee machine and trust me he is way more attached to that than this rug. Speaking of; Mateo get over here and get this cleaned up and get the rug outside. Marjan you finish that fruit over there and I’ll see if we’ve got any more pasta and we’ll get dinner done while you take care of that hand” Judd dished out instructions before turning to start going through the cupboards.

“What’s the story here then?” Owen asked leading Carlos over to sit on the couch and TK appeared seconds later with a first aid kit.

“Knife slipped while I was cutting an apple” Carlos explained. “It’s not too bad though” he added.

TK sat beside him and began unwinding the dish towel from his hand wincing as the lower layers of fabric were stained red. The final layer came away and blood welled up again almost instantly forcing TK to wipe it gently away.

“No, it shouldn’t need stitches but come over here for a second and we’ll wash it out properly” Owen spoke gesturing for Carlos to follow him as he led him over to the sink again. They rinsed it out and then TK carefully placed a piece of gauze over the wound and wrapped his finger up to hold it in place. He couldn’t really bend his finger now, but it didn’t sting as much and he felt better with it covered up.

“OK, all done” TK said. Owen had gotten up and moved back to the kitchen to give them some privacy.

“You know you could have told me on the phone that you were here?” TK asked his tone uncertain.

“I know but that would have defeated the object of surprising you. I promise babe this was an accident; I had cut my finger when you called but it’s no big deal and the fire hadn’t even started at that point” Carlos insisted.

“I know, I just wanted to make sure you know you can always talk to me. Just say and I’ll be on my way to help you, no matter what” TK said. Carlos leant forwards gently pressing his lips against TKs and leant far enough that when he tiled his head their foreheads touched.

“I love you and I know that always. I promise next time I accidentally set your dad’s firehouse alight I will call you immediately” Carlos said, and he heard the soft laughter building through TK’s chest.

“Or maybe just don’t set anything on fire in the first place” Owen called from over at the table where he’d sat down.

“No promises but I’ll do my best” Carlos laughed.


End file.
